Persecution

In another violation of religious freedom, Iran has once again asked imprisoned Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani to renounce his faith in Christ and accept the prophet Muhammad as his savior, all with the promise of securing his release. Nadarkhani has refused.

International Christian news agency BosNewsLife claims to have received information from persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide Friday, confirming that Nadarkhani had refused an offer to be released from prison in exchange for his public acknowledgement of the prophet Muhammad as “a messenger sent by God,” as believed by adherents of Islam.

“The latest attempt to pressure Pastor Youcef to acknowledge Muhammad as a messenger of God violates both the Iranian Constitution and various principles of international law, to which Iran is obliged to uphold,” Tiffany Barrans, international legal director at American Center for Law and Justice, told The Christian Post. more >>

North Korea has begun persecuting those who did not appear genuinely emotional following their late leader's death.

Kim Jong-il, 69, died December 2011, and as the country's official mourning period has come to an end, authorities have begun punishing those who did not display genuine sadness, according to Mail Online.

North Korea, also referred to as Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is a single-party state led by the Korean Workers' Party and often receives criticism for what critics allege is complete social control over its citizens and a lack of human rights. more >>

Christian leaders in Myanmar wrapped up talks with the country’s central government on Thursday by announcing a historic ceasefire agreement.

The ceasefire agreement between the government of Myanmar and leaders of the predominately Christian Karen National Union (KNU) is a first step in a sure to be lengthy peace process.

It is unclear what concessions by the battling group were made, but both sides decided to open communications offices and allow passage through territories, generally thwarted by militias and violence. more >>

Release International, a ministry that supports Christians who are persecuted for their faith, is set to present a petition for religious freedom to the North Korean embassy in London on Jan. 20.

The petition will be presented after a staged funeral procession and prayer vigil which is meant to symbolize the death of freedom in North Korea. Release International hopes the petition will catalyze the British government into pressing for more religious freedom in North Korea.

The organization has gathered 48,000 signatures in response to the human rights situation in the communist country. more >>

Ethnic and religious minorities in China are facing the worst climate for human rights since 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre, experts say.

One year after Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as activists and their lawyers, are suffering from an escalating government crackdown. One reason analysts see for this situation is the influence of unrest from the Arab Spring protests that erupted in Northern Africa in winter of 2010 and spread throughout countries in the region and through the Middle East.

At the time, some observers suspected the revolution might spread to China, but the country's Communist government took precautions, such as tightening security, to ensure that no uprisings occurred. more >>

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent government agency, condemned the recent new wave of attacks against Christians in Nigeria. The organization’s chairman, Leonard Leo, expressed concern that increasing violence might lead to the eradication of Christianity in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Christians in Nigeria were targeted in a wave of bombings over the weekend that killed at least 29 people in four separate attacks between Friday evening and Saturday morning. On Thursday, six people were killed and at least eight wounded after a gunman burst into a church during service and opened fire on the congregation. The attacks took place in the predominantly Muslim Northeastern part of the country.

The Jihadist group, Boko Haram, also responsible for the Christmas Day church bombings that killed 39 last year, is suspected to be responsible for the most recent wave of violence. Local sources have described hundreds of Christians fleeing areas in the Northeastern region of the country. more >>